Things Change
by The Fangs of a Girl
Summary: The reunion of Craig Manning and Ellie Nash.... it all starts in a grocery store.
1. Store

**I do not own Degrassi, or it's characters. **

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**_Prologue:_**

_Things change,_ the tattoo said, but it wasn't true for the most part. The way he felt about her hadn't changed. The scars on her wrists hadn't changed. The pain in his chest hadn't changed.

Every day, he'd scratch down a little note, and every day, he'd wanted to send it. He never said a word in therapy; his lips were dry from thirst, he'd just stare at the back wall, lost in his own little Craig-world. He was sure it bothered the therapist; he was making his job a hell of a lot worse. When questions were asked, "How do you feel today?" or "Have you thought about the drugs lately?" Craig wouldn't answer. But as soon as he got back to his room, thoughts would rush into his head. What he should have said- "I want to leave," or "I'm a coke addict, what do you think?"

Rehab was horrible. They took him off his medication, making it hard for him to even talk without flipping out. They took away his guitar, which made him nervous. And the worst part-and this was his fault-was that Ellie was taken away too.

So while Craig was wasting away in rehab, Ellie was trying to ignore the pain on her right ankle. The needle had touched her skin and she immediately thought of _him_, Craig. Wasting away after a year of rehab… and after an entire year, he was back, sober, straight, clean, whatever you wanted to call it, he was in Toronto.

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**Part One: Store**

She had made a little list in her head, _bacon, eggs, water, milk, yogurt, chicken and..._ but she couldn't remember the last item.

"Damnit," she muttered, walking slowly down the candy aisle, pushing the cart from under her arms. As she turned into the next aisle, she randomly grabbed a bag of pretzels and shoved it in the cart. This was the way she normally shopped for food, with rage and random, mindless selection.

_Juice! _That's what she needed, juice. She rushed towards the juice aisle, but someone else had beaten her there. He was tall, with shaggy brown hair and a leather jacket. He wasn't facing her but he was humming to himself, lost in the flavors. Ellie smiled to herself and began to look for Marco and Dylan's brand of Gatorade. When she finally got the correct bottle, she started walking down the aisle, towards the registers. But the tall man was in her way, and made her drop two jugs of water, spilling them all over. Just another thing to piss her off.

"Jesus, did you have to just smash into me like a wall? Look at all this water!" Ellie said angrily, motioning to the tiles, covered in water. The guy murmured an apology and cleared his throat. Ellie looked up, and so did he. Ellie's jaw immediately fell to the floor and the guy gasped, then stopped himself and sat on the floor, his arm landing in a pile of water. Ellie Nash and Craig Manning both stared at each other, silent and still. Then Craig's chest was attacked by a bag of pretzels, catapulted from Ellie's hand. He caught the bag, surprised by the heaviness on it on his torso. He leaned back as Ellie glared at him and screamed, "Jackass!" Craig was slightly surprised by Ellie's outburst, but it was understandable with all the shit he'd done to her.

"What the hell are you doing here, in _my_ grocery store?" Ellie shrieked, throwing a banana at him now. He caught that as well, placing it on the floor near Ellie's cart, ever so gently. Ellie stared at Craig, her eyes burning rage into his. He nodded and asked softly, "Are you done screaming n--" and Ellie yelled, "NO!" She sat there with her mouth open, one finger pointed menacingly at Craig and suddenly stopped, her breath coming out heavy and put her finger down.

"Okay… I'm done," she sighed. She stood up, picking up the objects she had thrown at Craig and putting them back in her cart. Craig sat on the floor, one knee stretched out, the other curled up against his chest. He looked at Ellie curiously, draining in the differences in the way she talked and acted and moved. Her face looked more mature, softer, and calmer, while Craig just looked old and tired. He was tired, very tired.

He was out shopping for Joey and Angie; he felt that it was his responsibility to take care of them after all the money and time he had taken out of their lives. Sometimes he felt like a burden to his family, or at least what was left of his family. He had been in Toronto for about two months now, still trying to make his way through life after rehab. He definitely did not want to start rooming at Joey's again, he needed to be on his own, he was twenty after all. So he rented out an apartment in a pretty trashy area of Toronto, occasionally talking to Marco and Dylan, but making sure not to even mention Ellie. When he wasn't trying to get back onto the music scene, he was drinking copious amounts of vodka.

If you walked into Apartment 3D on Parker Road, you would see dingy, gray walls, light curtains, a brown boxer with no identification lying on a faded blue couch, a guitar standing in one corner next to a small and uncomfortable looking chair and tons and tons of empty vodka bottles, scattered all around. It's not like Craig was drunk out in public, he would drag though the day, usually feeling okay, coughing some of the time, sometimes feeling guilty or sad, but that just fueled him to start to feel better.

He would come home from his job at a record store, and hunting for gigs, every so often playing a few shows, and drink, petting the dog, Sammy, and watching old movies on TV. His life seemed pathetic and he wanted to get out of it… but it didn't seem to be working. Ellie jolted Craig out of his fantasy world by saying, "Stop staring at me, jackass!" She hit him on the arm, harder than she meant to. She crouched down, looking at him, and saw something in his eyes that made her think of something, something that made her feel warm and proud inside…. Craig reached up to a stray lock of bright red hair on Ellie's forehead, tucking it behind her ear gently, then she gripped his wrist, leaning closer and closer to Craig's face, and finally, after a year and two months….

The pressure and warmth against Ellie's lips surprised her, but in a pleasant, happy kind of way. Her stomach felt on fire, fireworks, blasting away at her chest. She realized how much she had missed Craig's scent, the way his skin felt on hers. And oh, god was he a good kisser! So what made her suddenly switch from despising even the sound of his name to wanting to be in his arms, kissing like this forever? What made her so insane?


	2. Apartment

**Part Two: Apartment**

Back on his couch, drinking. Back and forth, letting the hot, burning alcohol pour down his throat, he roughly wiped a tear off of his cheek, cursing quite loudly at himself. The dog jumped up slightly from his position beside Craig's feet, staring straight at his owner. Craig nodded hostilely at the boxer and slurred, "What?" at the dog. He rolled his eyes and coughed, "I just talked to a fucking dog. I must _really_ be nuts." Sammy pawed at his owner's ankles and Craig sighed (more like groaned) and tipped a small amount of vodka into the crook of his slightly folded hand, offering to the dog's mouth. Sammy sniffed it politely and lapped the drink up with his tongue happily. He licked his chops slightly and his head fell back onto Craig's legs.

The TV wasn't on, the only thing playing in Craig's mind was the scene from yesterday in the grocery store, the kiss in the drink aisle--the final kiss-- or at least he thought. He gulped down another spout of alcohol as the scene let itself roll out again.

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_Craig reached up to a stray lock of bright red hair on Ellie's forehead, tucking it behind her ear gently, then she gripped his wrist, leaning closer and closer to Craig's face, and finally, after a year and two months… _

_The pressure and warmth against Ellie's lips surprised her, but in a pleasant, happy kind of way… _

_So what made her suddenly switch from despising even the sound of his name to wanting to be in his arms, kissing like this forever? What made her so insane?_

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He almost felt like puking up the first bottle of vodka he'd been through that night, skipping a gig or two, he didn't remember which.

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_She pulled out of his embrace, no matter how much she felt at home, this guy was a coke addict for Christ's sake! Ellie ripped herself from Craig's body, and screamed out in disgust, "Do you think it's that easy?!" Craig looked at her, stunned and scared. He tried to stutter out any type of response, but nothing came to his lips. _

_"You think you can just see me for five seconds, and then the next moment I'm in love with you?! How much of a coked-up loser freak are you?! Get the fuck out of here, asshole!" Ellie screamed, and groaned, kicking him in the leg, and running off, leaving her cart next to him. _

_His throat closed up and he couldn't move. Everything was numb, his mouth hung open and all he saw was blinding white light, completely unaware of the rage that was going on in the store. _

_His arms and fists thrashed about, knocking over bottles and cartons and packages, and as a customer walked by, Craig's groans and violent outburst were caught. _

_Soon enough, police were at the scene. _

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Craig screamed slightly, choking back another scream and leaned his head back, letting the vodka slide down his throat like a river. He poured more of the drink into a cupped hand and the before the dog could lap it up with his tongue, the door to Craig's apartment slammed open. Ellie stood in the doorway, her face almost as red as her hair. She glared at the obviously drunk Craig, breathing heavily. She shook her head at him and sighed, "So now you're drunk?" Craig laughed and tried to get up off of the couch. He stumbled slightly and she put his hands up in front of him, grabbing his wrists as he explained his drunken state, "Well yeah, sorry, but your rejection was pretty fruckin' slarsh. I mean… huckin' farsh…. Fuckin' harsh!" He stood up with the help of Ellie's hands. 

Ellie sighed, reaching for the words for her rationalization, "Craig, I…" Craig fell to the floor, his throat making odd noises.

"Craig?" Ellie asked, wondering what was wrong with him. His back lurched as he vomited onto the wooden floor, the vodka and his dinner in a wet pile on the floor. He clutched his stomach and Ellie leaned down to him, laying one hand on his back, the other pulling the long ends of his hair away from his face. He spit onto the ground, in pain and moaned in agony.

"God, Craig, are you alright?" Ellie asked in a soft voice. He didn't answer, just sat on his knees, breathing deeply and quickly. Ellie softly stroked his head, and ran her cool fingers across his hot, pale cheeks and down towards his back, moving her hand in circles to make him feel better. Hearing no answer, Ellie continued.

"The reason I came here," she said in a soft voice, standing up to clean up the vomit, "I wanted to apologize. For screaming at you. For not realizing that you were saying that you were sorry as well. And um… for lying. Craig, that kiss… It was random and _so_ out of place, but Craig… I do still have feelings for you… no matter what I do." Craig had leaned back onto the couch, and watched her cleaning up, not even slightly disgusted.

He nodded and said, "Okay…" quite awkwardly. Ellie looked at him, "Where's your trash can?" Craig pointed to a place under the sink where the trash bin was. Ellie continued, "So, I want to start this over again. The whole… relationship thing." Craig looked up at her and said, "Wait what?" and Ellie sighed, walked over to him with a glass of water, handed it to him and he sipped it lightly.

The water tasted good in his mouth, much better than the hot, sour vodka. He sighed and said, "So… this is all okay with you? Me and you…. Now?" Ellie nodded and placed her body underneath the crook of his arm, snuggling into his tired, worn-out body, resting her head on his shoulder.

Craig smiled, forgetting his depression and drunkenness. She felt warm and soft and almost weightless as they sat there, their backs against the couch, their eyes closed, falling asleep in each other's arms.


End file.
